This New Jack White Song Is Not at All What You Were Expecting

Remember the summer of Sad Jack White at Baseball Games? It was a glorious time of the pale-skinned, dark-haired rock star getting photographed completely out of his element. He wore bright team colors. There wasn't a guitar in sight. He was surrounded by smiling, happy sports fans. He was in the sun!

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In other words, White has a particular brand better suited for meticulously crafted rock music, vinyl records, cobalt lighting, and hats. So when he does things like go to baseball games, show up at neighborhood potlucks, and appear on The Muppets, it seems so delightfully out of place.

White has written the theme song for Martin Short and Maya Rudolph's new NBC variety show, Maya & Marty. The song has that primetime, family-friendly dorkiness along with White's riff-heavy blues rock. He wrote, produced, and played drums on the track, which also includes instrumentation from Dean Fertita (Dead Weather), Dominic Davis, Lillie Mae Rische, and Fats Kaplin.

In 2008, White wrote the James Bond theme song, "Another Way to Die," for Quantum of Solace, but this marks the first time he's written a TV theme song.

And though this particular song for this particular show seems like a weird fit for White, it's pretty common practice for rock stars to deliver theme songs for TV programs. Primus's Les Claypool wrote the South Park theme. Regina Spektor wrote "You've Got Time" specifically for Orange Is the New Black. Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme is tight with Anthony Bourdain and has appeared on his show and written music for his shows—most recently the theme song for Parts Unknown.